June+19+log


 * __R__**eady, set, go! Day 5 of the SCKWP is off and running. Fellows introduced themselves to Jeff Roper, filling in for Nana Gerri, who is in Chicago for the rest of the week with her grandson, and Linley Voboril, 2000 Fellow, who is T.C. for the week.


 * __E__**-Anthololgy: Nancy shared a response from a reader on the Wiki that sent her a personal e-mail in response to a devotional that Nancy had posted. The reader was requesting a prayer chain for a friend’s nephew facing medical problems. Nancy reiterated the power of writing and it’s capability to empower or destroy.


 * __A__**ll Fellows enjoyed Dennis’s personal contributions in sharing about his son, as well as the excellent reflection of Day 4 in the life of the 2007 SCKWP Fellows.

__**L**__inley gave the writing prompt for the morning which was a response to the “Real Moms” poem she had written as a Fellow in the 2000 project. Three prompts were offered, as Linley has a hard time making concrete decisions. Along with identifying a personal platform for creating a “Real” poem, other choices were “Class Reunion” and “First Paying Job.” Nearly everyone shared. Dennis went first with a great teenager point of view in “Real World.” Becky, Teralyn, Nancy, Sam, and Kendra all wrote excellent renditions of “Real Teachers.” Marilyn, feeling like Darth Vader’s sister, created “Real” in response to disturbing national news of a pedophile ring, animal cruelty, and a skull on the back of a young person’s vehicle. Sandy and Meg each wrote about “First Paying Jobs,” making everyone chuckle with their memories of a bakery and scooping out barn stalls.

__**W**__e were all students for Jeff’s teacher demo on the eight step process for writing persuasive essays. He teaches this process to juniors, seniors, and college students. After a brief explanation of each of the steps of this classic rhetoric format, he put Fellows to work in writing an essay.

__**R**__oper split us into groups, each one responsible for creating a portion of a persuasive essay. Collaboratively, we developed a powerful piece, entitled “Should homework be eliminated?” which can be accessed on the Wiki under “Teacher Demos.”


 * __I__**ntriguing us after lunch was Shirleen with Author’s Chair. She read a short story,

__**T**__he Last Leaf” by O. Henry. With the story, she also shared that O. Henry created hundreds of short stories, as he was published weekly for over a two and a half years. She noted that as an author of the early 1900s he was often edited, (and even edited him herself in order to fit the reading into the time frame allowed) because he was viewed as a poor speller and grammatically incorrect.

__**E**__veryone’s wheels were turning after Kendra’s article summary of “Culturally Responsive Classroom Management.” She emphasized the importance of getting to know and understand students. In order to connect with children and make an impact, teachers need to take on the responsibility of learning all we can about where they’re from, who they are, what they like, and what’s important to them. Conversation followed, relating the article not only to multicultural inner-city classrooms, but also those of students in upper middle class or small school districts.

__**R**__esearch instruction concluded the day. Teralyn and Jeff demonstrated web sites for finding information to support research topics, including ERIC, Citation Machine, and easybib. Fellows were able to use the remainder of the afternoon working on research for their assignment.


 * S**CKWP, Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share this week with you. I am honored to have been a part of the 2007 SCKWP. You have enlightened and inspired me to re-ignite the spark inside of me as a writer, and as a teacher of writers. Each one of you are amazing and your students are blessed to have your influence as they continue their journeys through education. Fondly, Linley

Linley Voboril, T.C, 2000 KWP Inman Elementary